Their resilience is amazing. Across the continent of Africa, despite the many strides in commerce, education and community development, the scars of civil war, colonial rape-and-pillage, corrupt government, poverty and hunger mar the land.

Still, the children’s faces shine with hope, with promise, with goodness, with the faith that God has great plans for the sons and daughters of what is arguably still the most misunderstood continent in the modern world.

It is this hope, seen through the eyes of children, that has touched the bishops of The United Methodist Church - those born in Africa and those from other nations.

And it is with that hope that the bishops now challenge the entire denomination to put dollars, cents, prayers and human resources to work to make a difference in the future of African children, their families and their communities.

Local churches are asked to take up an offering in support of the appeal. The money will be used for such projects as:

• caring for children displaced and orphaned by war
• rebuilding schools and clinics destroyed by war
• restocking medical supplies in hospitals
• developing health and nutrition programs in hard-hit areas
• rebuilding churches and church-related community centers
• establishing new faith communities

Although the money will be used in part for United Methodist churches and facilities, planners emphasize that the aim of the appeal is to improve the quality of life for any African child, regardless of religious affiliation.

The Bishop's Appeal, "Hope for the Children of Africa," kicked off early in 1998 with a Lenten-season offering.

The goal is to raise $12 million dollars through local church and individual donors during the next three years.

In addition, church agencies are asked to lend their support by developing resources and assigning personnel to make Africa’s children a priority.

The denomination’s international mission arm, the General Board of Global Ministries, is now recruiting 100 "Missioners of Hope."

These short-term missionaries—who’ll serve for two to five years—are being recruited in cooperation with the Africa Central Conferences and other Methodist bodies on the continent.

And, rather than require the people come to them, the ministries will go directly to the people.

"Jesus went to the folks where they were," the Rev. Laurence Bropleh, of Global Ministries’ Mission Personnel unit, explained.

"We are going to send ‘Missioners of Hope’ into the camps, into those displaced centers to sleep beside the people, to worship where they worship, and to be with them in their communities," Bropleh added.

The first two missioners of hope, commissioned in October, will serve in Liberia and Tanzania.